Travelers From Another World
by OCsCan'tDance
Summary: Having one new recruit to an already enormous guild is already enough. Now it's THREE recruits! And another person who looks exactly the same as the first new recruit! Well... dimension hopping sucks! Rated T to play it safe. UNDER RECONSTRUCTION!
1. Prologue

Travelers From Another World

**~Prologue~**

~Kumu's POV~

The days were always the same. Pick fruit, lunch break, return to picking fruit. I hated it greatly, especially the way my supervisors treated me. It was always "pick more" or "you aren't picking enough". If you had heard that the prestigious guild "Grand Chase" was recruiting straight from your one-horse town, you'd want to get away from this, right?

"You will do nothing of the sort." Right. There was my mother to deal with. Worse than all the supervisors put together. Her black hair, straight as the beating sticks the supervisors carried, and brown eyes, cold as her personality, showed how much she protested. "Picking fruit was always your job, and it will always be your job. Keep your flights of fantasy out of my line of work."

"At least I have ambition..." I automatically bit my tongue, wishing I hadn't said the words.

"I will have the supervisor give you 40 lashes for that." I really wished I hadn't said that. "Return to your quarters, now. You aren't something worthy of the Grand Chase Knights anyway, trust me when I say that."

I did as I was told, hesitant to allow myself to gain more lashes. Upon exiting the building to go to my living quarters, I noticed how few supervisors were still out. Maybe now was my chance... Town was only a few miles away. I could make it by morning.

Grand Chase, here I come!

* * *

New A/N: Decided to rewrite this story due to it needing it. Badly. Previously this prologue was absolutely atrocious and didn't even deserve to be on this website, so hopefully this one is a bit better, although a bit shorter.

Old A/N_  
_Random, I know. It's leading up to something, I promise. And I'm sorry if this story ends up disappointing you, reader(s). ;-;

This and Chapter 1 are the shortest parts of this fic, I promise! Really!


	2. Chapter 1

Travelers From Another World

**~Chapter 1~**

The girl cleared her throat to speak. "Yes, I would like to join the Grand Chase." She said politely.

At the other side of a small desk on the side of a road, an orange-haired woman sat politely pulling out a large manila folder. "Alright then," She spoke in a crisp, smooth voice. "All you need to do is fill out these forms. I can't guarantee how high your rank will be- in fact, you'll probably have to work your way up to higher ranks- but you have determination. That's very important in a group such as this." The clerk held out the folder for the girl.

"Thank you very much, ma'am." The girl said curtly, grabbing the folder. As she walked away, a faint smile teased her lips. She ducked into the first alley she came to, and found a safe spot where the road wasn't visible.

~The Girl's POV~

I carefully opened the folder and pulled out the only piece of paper in there; strange that the application for the world-renowned Grand Chase was so small. I observed the form to see what I had to fill out.

_Name:_

_Age:_

_Address:_

_Weaponry Skills:_

_Why are you joining?*:_

_Likes*:_

_Dislikes*:_

_Species:_

_Note: All categories marked with an asterisk (*) are optional, and do not have to be filled out._

I sighed after observing the application paper. My hand was surely going to ache after this. I found my pen and began my work.

_Name:_ Kumura

_Age: _12

I sighed, thinking of what to do for the next category. It wasn't an optional one, and I couldn't put my address down. People would get… suspicious, for lack of a better word. Finally I thought of what to do.

_Address:_ Not Available

I sighed at the crudeness of the answer, and then continued down.

_Weaponry Skills:_ I am capable of using almost any weapon, as long as I am briefly introduced to it.

_Why are you joining?*: _I am joining because there is too much evil in this world. The balance is tipping in the wrong direction, and what forces like the Grand Chase need most now are those who are determined to correct that balance. That is why I am joining.

I looked at the next two categories. "Likes" and "Dislikes;" in other words, things I don't have to fill out because they are pointless and just get in the way. I left them blank.

_Species:_ Human

I wrung my wrist with my other hand to help ease the soreness out of it. Writing is definitely not my forte. I shifted the form carefully into the envelope, and peered out of the alley. From what I could tell, the morning traffic was still very thin. A few people walked around, but none of which paid any mind to me. I found the station where I got the forms, and walked back to it, clutching the folder as if it was a warm blanket in the midst of cold, freezing winds. She saw me returning.

"Ah, welcome back!" The clerk said cheerily. I held the forms out to her. "You have to mail those technically."

"Would it be alright if I just gave them to you?" I said weakly. "I don't have a way to mail anything currently." It wasn't completely incorrect.

"That's quite fine…"

"Thank you very much!"

"… I'll just stick your address onto here and send it-"

"Agh, you can't do-" I quickly shut my mouth. Talking was definitely not my forte either. Then I realized I didn't even have my address on the forms. The clerk looked at me with a questionable tone. I began to back away, knowing that she might end up questioning me. I certainly didn't want that. I dashed off quickly. Being a runaway was certainly better than being dragged back to the hellhole I'd called home for so long. In fact, I wouldn't put it past Mother to punish me for my actions, then still expect me to harvest correctly. This propelled my dashes even more. Suddenly—

***CRASH*** I smacked into a cerulean haired woman. Closer inspection revealed that she had glasses. She must have been rich. She also had a large book. She was definitely rich. Nonetheless, I had knocked her down. I stood up quickly and helped the woman up.

"Are you alright?" I asked her. "I'm sorry for bumping into you."

"What's wrong?" The rich lady must have been some sort of mind reader.

I stayed silent.

"Please tell me." She ordered curtly. "After all, helping is initially my job's primary objective."

I forced a chuckle back. This rich, mind-reading woman must have also been mad. She was acting as if she was actually a part of the Grand Chase- no- one of the Elite 11 with the way she acted.

"I am part of the Grand Chase, after all." Right. Mind reading rich-lady.

I arched my eyebrows questionably. "Really?"

"I can prove it to you." The woman smirked. It was then I noticed her multicolored eyes. Hetero-chromia, I believe it was? "Follow me." I did as the woman demanded. I recognized where we were heading: the area where I had ditched the clerk. My stomach churned in grief. Finally, we stood in front of the desk, a big difference from the scenery our town usually had. Smoothed stone was used as a road; Bricks were used for most buildings; it was really a drab place. And I would never get out.

"Good morning, Knight Master." The woman said to the clerk at the desk.

"Oh, Good morning Mari." My morale took a nose dive. If the rumors were true, I had been mean to the last survivor of an ancient race, as well as one of the Grand Chase elites. "It's a pleasant surprise to have you visit today." The clerk looked at me. "Ah, I see you brought our newest applicant back."

"So you are thinking of joining the Grand Chase?" I could have sworn I heard Mari chuckle. "May I see her application?" The clerk nodded and fished up a manila folder. Mari opened it and extracted the single piece of paper inside. She scanned it over with her eyes. "Aren't you a bit young to be joining a guild?" I tensed and felt my heart speed up. To be rejected for age is one thing. To be rejected by both that and by one of the elites… well, that's just a plain embarrassment. Mari continued to scan the paper and ignored my tenseness. "Well, you have determination, I'll give you that." Mari began to ponder. "Well, you may consider yourself accepted. Welcome to the Grand Chase." I could barely contain my excitement.

"Ma'am, grab that young girl, quickly!" A sharp tuned voice said quickly. It was the one I recognized as my mother's. In other words, I should've run first thing. It took until I felt Mari's hand creep towards my shoulder until I bolted off into the crowds now gathered in the town. I crouched and crawled my way around numerous people until I got out of the main crowd and found myself at the local store. I pulled out the small scraps of GP I had and put it on the counter quickly.

"How much non-perishable food items can this buy?" I asked the store attendee. The man picked out a bag and put some smaller bags filled with dried red meat in them into the bag. As soon as he set it down, I snatched it. "Keep whatever change there is!" I dashed off towards the one place no one would ever think to look for me: Northbound, towards the land locked in immortal warfare.

A/N

Ok, yes. Our young heroine is named after my pen name. Or actually, my pen name came from her name. I stoles it from her 8D

Anyway, WHAT IS THIS MADNESS? POSTING CHAPTER 1 INSTANTLY AFTER THE PROLOGUE? Again, very short chapter. I'M SORRY!


	3. Chapter 2

Travelers From Another World

**~Chapter 2~**

~Kumura's POV~

I sighed and paused my feet. I felt a searing pain jolting through them with my pulse. Looking down, I realized that my shoes were frayed in various spots. The Sun hung a bit low in the sky. I had been walking in whatever direction I was walking in now for the whole day. It was certainly evening by now. I positioned myself relative to the Sun to start trekking Northbound, and set my feet in motion again. Suddenly, I realized a predicament. Between Point A and Point B, there were mountains. I was going to have to look for a valley to travel through. That would be impossible for me to do during the night.

Once I found a small bush, I leaned against it and took my shoes off, if they could even be called that anymore. When they were on my feet, they at least looked shoe-like, but now, they looked like randomly ripped pieces on cloth. I started to rub the ache out of my feet as best as possible, carefully avoiding the scrapes and cuts that dotted my feet. Once I was done, I slipped the pieces of cloth back on, and went to sleep.

"WAKE UP!" Someone growled. I jolted upright and came face to face with green orbs glaring intently at me. "Good, you're awake. Now, I need to ask you something." Upon further observation, I realized that this woman had pink-colored hair.

"Yes?" I droned monotonously.

"Would you happen to know where we are, peasant girl?" The woman's words stung, but they were sadly true.

"That depends." I pulled a fast move to make sure I wouldn't be leading a bounty hunter to follow me. "Are you looking for someone?"

"Yes, I do happen to be looking for someone. Now, please answer my question. I haven't the time to waste."

"Would you mind telling me what the appearance of this person is?" I asked innocently.

The woman sighed, annoyed. "He has purple hair and eyes as well. He also pretends to be powerful when in reality he is really weak."

I inwardly sighed. So she WASN'T a bounty hunter bent on hunting me down for a bit of magical crops from my mother's orchard. All is good with the world.

"…Besides, why would you need to know?" Apparently she had been speaking while I was inwardly sighing and ignoring her.

"No particular reason."

"Now, peasant girl, you have avoided my question long enough. Where are we?"

"I'm sorry if it's no help to you, but I know we are near the north-western region of Ellia." I finally stood up, picking up my things. "Do you happen to know what lies northbound of here?"

"Why are you asking me?"

"I see. Well, thank you anyway. Is there anything else you need to ask?"

"No. Now, away with you, peasant girl." The woman shooed me away with her hand.

I walked off a bit until the woman was out of sight. Checking the position of the morning sun, I then proceeded to head north. In a few hours, I reached what had appeared to be ruins that had not been inhabited for quite some time.

Looking around, I spotted a silver-haired girl analyzing a small cube that appeared to have aspects of machinery to it. As I walked over, my footsteps eerily echoing in the ruins, the girl looked up and peered at me with stunning ruby eyes.

"He-Hello." I nervously said.

She remained silent as I continued walking past.

"Um… Would you happen to know where we are?" I asked shyly, sitting politely beside her and the cube.

Again, a mocking silence was all that was heard.

"S-so what is that?" I asked staring at the cube-like object. "It looks really old." I noticed a small plaque on the cube and cautiously dusted it off. Odd characters were inscribed on it, with an arrow pointing to a dusty bulge on the cube. I proceeded to dust the bulge off. Realizing that the cube was also buried partially in the ground, I ended up digging it out.

Suddenly, I heard an odd whirring, then a click, before other bulges on the cube burst their dust off and faintly glowed and electric blue. It began to fly upwards. I, not thinking, grabbed the cube in an attempt to keep it to the ground, utterly resulting in failure. The cube bobbed up and down sporadically with me, clinging for dear life, still riding it. Finally, after many times of the odd motion, I was knocked off to the ground, into unconsciousness.

When I came to, my leg was in a bandage and the girl was gone. I assumed that the girl had been the one who bandaged my leg. I didn't even get to tell her my thanks. Suddenly, a purple portal manifested and some sort of demonic wolf-like army began to pour out. A man with purple hair appeared and began attacking the wolves with a claw-like hand, until suddenly a scythe appeared in his hand. He began to hack away a group of them. The portal disappeared, but left the army of wolves behind.

The man continued to nonchalantly kill the wolves, until finally, all that was left of them were their cold, dead bodies. His scythe disappeared, and he crouched down to pick up an odd blue-grey orb.

The cube, which had been lying dormant beside me, suddenly began to whir again. As it began to fly upwards, I grabbed it. Skillfully, I dropped off of it at the perfect timing so that I was standing upright again. My bandaged leg began to groan with pain. I ignored it and picked up my bag.

"Well than, why are you here?" The man asked, turning to me.

"I'm just a humble traveler." I replied simply.

"You shouldn't be here."

"Oh? And why would that be?"

"This place is dangerous, and certainly not a place for an injured human to be napping."

"When did this begin to be your concern?"

The man frowned and stayed silent. The sun caught my eye, and again I used it to position my path for the day. The man followed me.

"So why are you going this way?" I asked curiously.

"I should be asking you the same thing." He replied with a stare.

I chuckled. "Fine then, I'll tell you. I'm running."

"Running from what?"

"Oh, just, you know, just something."

"So that would be why you're going north?"

"Yes, It is." I paused to jump over a log. "Alright then, why are you going north?"

He stayed silent as he jumped over the log after me.

"Oh, come on!" I blurted suddenly. "I told you why I'm going north, now you ignore me when I ask you why you're going north. How rude!"

"Fine." He sighed, annoyed. "If you _really_ must know, I'm following…" He mumbled so much that I couldn't make out anything else.

"Okay, I get it." I grumbled. "Since you don't want to tell me, I'll not pester you anymore." I sighed and fumbled around with a pebble as I walked, until I realized something. "Since it seems our paths will be intertwined for some time, I think we should introduce ourselves. My name is Kumura, but please call me Kumu." I stopped and modestly bowed. "May I ask what your name is?"

"Dio." He simply replied.

"Well then, Dio, it is a pleasure to meet you officially."

"You are certainly trying to be overly polite."

"I try my best."

We walked for a few more hours until my leg was splitting with pain.

"Well…" I began. "I am going to stop here for the night. It was a pleasure traveling with you." I settled down beside a tree and began to massage my leg. Dio sat beside a tree opposite of me. "Oh…" I mumbled. "Good night, then." I opened my bag to pull out a small morsel of dried meat, spotting a glimmering dagger in a beautiful sheath inside of the bag, glinting against the faint light of the sunset. I didn't remember having it. I pulled it out and strapped it to my belt loop carefully, knowing that most likely, the girl had given it to me since I was previously unarmed. After I ate my ration for the day, I closed the bag and drifted to sleep.

Before I knew it, I felt a jabbing in my side. Slowly, I opened my eyes. Dio had been murderously poking me awake. It was barely sunrise.

"We must get moving." He said.

"And I'm traveling with you?" I asked, skeptically. I attempted to get up, but found it impossible with my leg in the condition it was in. I could walk on it, but I couldn't get up on it, I guess.

"Yes." Dio apparently noticed my inability to stand up and helped me up.

"Thank you." I groggily said, checking the position of the sun again. We began our northbound course again. After a while, Dio suddenly began to run.

"WAIT!" I exclaimed, trying- and failing- to get Dio's attention. With a feeble attempt, I tried to run after him, but it was futile. Dio was long gone, and all my running had gotten me was an even more aching leg. I fell to the ground, getting the breath knocked out of me. I immediately began to drift into unconsciousness on the welcoming ground.

***CLINK*** Sounds of intense fighting roused me from my cataleptic state. ***CLANK CLINK CLASH* **As quickly as I could with my injured leg, I got to my feet and quickly made my way to the area where the fight was going on. Dio was savagely attacking a man who wore strange clothing that bore two zeros on the chest area. The man's grey ponytail bobbed slightly as he deflected more blows from Dio's scythe with a sword that looked like it could be the star of its own museum exhibit.

"_CLASSICAL FORCE!_" The man declared loudly, pulling an orb from his sword. It glowed a menacing yellow as he prepared to hurl it forward. I jumped in his way to take the orb's blow. Like an idiot. My leg screamed in pure agony as pain pulsed from the point where the orb made contact, but I refused to succumb to exhaustion.

~?'s POV~

A girl suddenly appeared, taking the blow of Classical Force head on. She looked as if she could fall any moment, but she seemed to be defiantly standing her ground.

"_ZERO! PAY ATTENTION!" _I heard the familiar voice of Grandark speak to me, bringing my focus back to the fight. The demon whom I was fighting was rushing forward again to attack me. The girl grabbed his arm quickly with an expression that would put any Highlander to shame. In other words, she was extremely angry.

"I DIDN'T TAKE THAT ATTACK FOR YOU TO GO BACK AND TRY TO GET YOUR ASS HANDED TO YOU ON A SILVER PLATTER!" She growled.

The demon simply brushed off the girl, whom was weak from taking Gran's attack. He rushed forwards holding a spear-like weapon. I easily dodged his move. I jumped up and threw Gran into the ground.

"_BLEEDING GASH!_" I exclaimed as Gran's tentacle-like appendages burst from the ground. The demon I was attacking was getting up and running away, with the girl nowhere to be seen. She had probably tackled him out of the way. It mattered little, as she would be dead after that attack. I picked up Grandark as I landed and placed him back on my back. To my surprise, the girl was still in one piece, but had apparently opened a wound on her leg, as it was bleeding quite profusely.

"_You still have many things to learn, Zero." _Grandark chuckled.

~Kumura's POV~

There are a few things I am now sure of: 1) Taking orbs of anonymous energy in an attack hurts like Hell Bridge; 2) Having a leg wound while taking said orbs hurts **JUST **as much; And 3) Tackling someone out of the way when doing a limp-run and having both of the previously stated happen to you will make you pass out. As I was drifting off, I saw Dio running away. How nice of him. Darkness once again took my vision for the next hours of my life.

Reluctantly, I forced my eyelids to open. The man whom Dio had been battling was sitting, eating an apple. I quickly attempted to sit up.

"You shouldn't be attempting to sit up in your condition." He said, continuing to eat his apple.

Once he was finished he walked over to me and began a conversation.

"Why were you traveling with that demon?" He bluntly asked.

"…" I hesitated.

"Please tell me."

"We were going the same direction and just sort of ended up traveling the same path." I huffed. "Why would you even need to know?"

"I am simply curios. Is that wrong of me?"

"So what's your name, oh mysterious attacker?"

"First of all, I am Zero, and second of all, that demon you were traveling with attacked me first."

"I see. Well then, Zero, my name is Kumura, but please refer to me as Kumu." It was then I noticed dusk beginning to fall.

"You should get some rest. You have sustained many wounds."

"No thanks to you." I grumbled under my breath.

"What was that?"

"GOOD NIGHT!" I declared loudly as I drifted off to sleep. I heard another voice speaking to Zero as I fell asleep, but dismissed it as my near dream state. I mean, if I ever do dream, that is. Dreaming was such a trivial thing, really. All I ever remember dreams doing for me is depriving me of my much required rest to put me into situations so farfetched that the thought of going through them would make anyone want to slam their head down onto a desk and yell.

I naturally woke up this time and noticed that the sun was on the horizon, meaning that morning was nearing. Shuffling around a bit in my sitting position, I decided that I would watch it rise. I had all but forgotten the last time I had watched the sun rise while not picking enchanted fruits from the orchards. Oddly nostalgic, I sighed.

"You're up quite early for someone in such a condition." Zero's voice startled me.

"Did you just sneak up on **ME**?" I blurted. No one had snuck up on me with such ease in a while. My hearing was something I normally could take pride in.

"_Zero, remind me as to why you are letting this girl travel with us?" _I heard a voice grumble from near Zero's person.

"Did you say something, Zero?" I asked.

"No." He simply replied.

"Then I believe that someone is watching us…" I bit my lip. "However, they were addressing you. Do you have any idea as to who it could have been?"

~Zero's POV~

"Gran, do you think it is possible that Kumura can hear you?" I whispered to my sword.

"Are you talking to yourself?" Kumura gave me a strange look from her seated position on the ground.

"_Well, it isn't entirely impossible, per say…" _As Grandark spoke, the girl put on a puzzled look. _"But I highly doubt it."_

"Why don't you try speaking directly towards her?" I again spoke to Gran. Again, I received strange looks from Kumura.

"_Alright. I trust you, Zero. Girl over there, is it Kumura?" _The girl in question turned her head a bit. _"If you can hear me, then nod twice."_

"She nodded…" I told Gran. "… Twice."

~Kumura's POV~

Well, this was certainly awkward. I heard the disembodied voice speaking a few more times with multiple pauses in between its sentences, in which I saw Zero whispering to his back. Finally, Zero walked over to me and helped me up.

"It would seem that you are capable of hearing the voice of my sword." He pointed to the large sword on his back. He turned a little so that I could see it better. When I looked at it, it suddenly opened up its "eye" and blinked, startling me. I scampered back a little bit.

"_Well, then, I suppose it is a pleasure to finally actually see you, Kumura." _I heard the voice speak again. _"I am Grandark."_

"Please call me Kumu." I politely replied. "And it is finally a pleasure to see your solid form." I gave a forced smile. An awkward silence followed.

"HEY! KUMURA!" I heard a young man's voice call. It was extremely familiar, almost as if it was…

I turned around to see who it was. An eighteen year old figure with solid black hair greeted my sight.

"Lucius… what a surprise." I unenthusiastically droned.

"You know why I'm here, my dear little Kumura?" He spoke, golden eyes glowing deceivingly.

"I might." I tried to walk away, but Lucius grabbed my hand.

"I came to bring you home." He smirked his "reassuring" smile.

"Back off!" I growled, pulling out my dagger. I was in no condition to be fighting, but Lucius still let me go. Zero was doing nothing to help me.

"Hmph. Such barbaric actions, Kumura, my sweet."

"Oh, don't give me that crap, Lucius." I scoffed.

"Tsk Tsk." He waggled his finger. "You know how much your mother hates that kind of word."

"Oh? And why would you give a…" I raised my voice. "…CRAP?"

"Why else, my little Kumura? You know why!"

"What, because your greedy pockets still aren't filled to your content?" I scoffed and looked around in a fake manner. "Sorry, Lucius, but I don't see any gold here." I smirked, readying to play my trump card. "All I see here is a big dark sea of iron."

Lucius gasped in horror.

"Oh, you don't like IRON, do you?" He flinched each time I said "iron". "Why don't you leave, before your precious Salvatore heritage is tainted by IRON?"

He regained his composure, finally speaking. "Then sing for me."

"What the hell?" I exclaimed. I hadn't expected him to ask me to sing. "Ah, well, if that's what it takes to get you to bug off, so be it."

Finally, Grandark decided to speak. _"Are you sure that doing what he asks is a smart idea? This could be a trap."_

"Oh-ho, I'm positive." I chuckled out loud. Lucius looked at me strangely.

"Positive of what?" He asked.

"Oh, nothing… nothing at all." I said, smirking devilishly. "And I hope you didn't want me to sing anything specific, because I've got my song and I'm sticking to it."

"Fine." Lucius pouted a little. "What are you singing then?"

"Oh, just a little something I sung all the time while picking enchanted tree fruits." I scoffed. "But I honestly doubt that would help you figure it out since you never had to do any work in your life, being a Salvatore as yourself." I shook my head and took a breath, opening my mouth to sing, when two men suddenly came out of the bushes. They were large, and held swords proudly in their hands.

"Save, your voice, Kumura." Lucius spoke harshly. "You'll need it to explain to your mother why you ran away. As for me, I have a debt to collect. Tie her up."

The two men lumbered towards me, but I was too agile for them. They used two awkwardly placed slices to try to subdue me, but I dodged those blows as well. They made no effort to surround me and stayed strictly within my eyesight. I squeezed in between the two and managed to get one to slash-and kill- the other, with a strike that would have only hit my shoulder, but instead went straight for his ally's heart.

His blade must not have had a fuller, as he had trouble getting it out of the dead body of his comrade. As he was desperately trying to retrieve his sword, I managed to pull out my dagger and slice the backs of his knees. He immediately left the blade inside of the body it had unintentionally hit and held his knees in pain, falling down.

"I'm not returning Lucius." I stated simply, sheathing my dagger and retreating a few feet back from the men. "Force won't work either. You know that yourself. You trained me too well."

"Fine. I suppose you win this time, Kumura." Lucius said, scowling. "I will get you to return though, mark my words." With those words, he dashed away, abandoning his two men.

Blankly, I turned around and began walking the way I had been originally. At a certain point I knew no one would come looking for me, even if Lucius would still be following me until that point. He was more of a gnat than a dragon blocking my path.

"_Did I not tell you it was a trap" _Grandark smugly said.

"Hey, we made it out, didn't we?" I pointed out.

"_Your recklessness will get you killed."_

"Was that a threat?" I said, not actually paying attention to the conversation but more aware of the screeching noise that was growing louder.

"HELP ME PLEASE!" I turned to see Lucius running at speeds I had thought he couldn't reach in a suit of gold-plated armor, screaming at the top of his lungs. Behind him was an extremely cute blue blob with yellow eyes and a leaf adorning its head. He hid a few feet behind me, almost to where Zero was standing.

"Oh come on, Lucius!" I chuckled, kneeling down to meet eyes with the near-harmless creature. "This is just a slime. What could it do that could threaten you so much other than smudge your precious armor? Be cute as a button?"

Slowly, I raised a hand to the slime's head and rubbed it rhythmically. It made a purring-like noise and closed its eyes. Suddenly, its eyes popped open and it hopped away quickly. Before I could react, I felt a large abject hit me in the back of the head. I could tell it was sharp.

I could hear Zero and Grandark talking indistinctly. I felt my vision ebbing away, blood pooling in front of me. Blood? That wasn't good…

~?'s POV~

From my place in the bushes, I could tell that the young human girl had been killed. The man who had attacked her walked away. The frail young boy was fine. Unconscious but fine, and he was not worth wasting a tablet on.

Once I was sure that the girl's attacker was completely gone, I left the bushes and walked over to her. The only wound was one on her neck. A small tablet would suffice for her. I pulled one out from my bag and lay it onto her stomach. It then glowed red before fading away. The girl slowly began to breathe again, her wounds healing.

Sighing, I walked back over towards the bushes. The girl wouldn't wake up for at least an hour, but at least she was alive again. As I sat down again, I pulled my book out again and turned to the page I was on. Being enveloped within my reading, I had almost missed the presence of the girl's attacker returning. Hastily, I walked over to both the girl and the gold-clad boy, casting a teleportation spell. My intended destination had been my house on the outskirts of Kounat's ruins, but rather than teleporting there, we teleported into a music box store. It was better than nothing.

"There she is!" Someone shouted, running into the store and towards us. "Ah, ma'am, thank you so much for bringing this girl back for us! How can we ever repay you?"

I stayed silent, being one to avoid conversation. I would be incapable of getting another teleportation spell off for another hour or so, so I would be stuck here for some time. Somehow, the girl was managing to stir herself awake.

"Don't wanna…" She sounded in a trance. That was odd. "…Don't wanna go back home. Stop trying to take me back… hrn… Lucius?" She opened her eyes completely and blinked a few times.

~Kumura's POV~

Somehow, I had woken up again, even after a fatal blow to my head. It defied all the laws of medical science, me simply being alive. What was horrible was that I was back in my hometown, in the mountains of Ellia. I noticed a man pulling out a piece of technology from his pocket. It was a clunky piece of metal that had an antenna on it. He held it up to his ear. It occurred to me that it was a "phone," something that was only used since recently, when the last survivor of an ancient race began reintegrating technology back into the lives of many people. It was some sort of communication device, from what I knew.

One thing I could conclude: I would never be in the Grand Chase at this rate.

A few minutes late, Mari walked into the store, looking around, until she looked straight at me. I froze up.

"Well, you certainly have managed to avoid us long enough." She smugly stated. "I thought you wanted to be part of the Grand Chase now?"

I opened my mouth to speak, but words again escaped me.

"You're welcome." Right. Mari was a mind-reader. I had forgotten. "Be informed that there is an entrance test to decide your starting rank."

"Wait just a minute, here you!" Lucius said, getting between Mari and I. "I was under specific orders to bring Kumura back to her mother safely. You can't just-"

Mari shoved a paper in Lucius' face. He scanned it over with his eyes.

"What? How? But…" He looked down in defeat.

"I never thought I would meet a descendant of Kounat." I hadn't noticed that the girl from the ruined area was here. "May I ask what your name is?"

"Mari Ming Onette, and you are?" Mari greeted politely.

"Please simply call me Bay, such as the common cooking herb."

"Alright." Mari smirked, pulling out a mallet and crafting a teleporter pad out of seemingly nothing. "Well, if you will excuse me, Bay, I must escort this new recruit to Serdin castle."

"You are in the Grand Chase, correct?"

"Yes."

"May I join as well?"

"I see no problem in it."

"What a wonderful idea!" Lucius blurted suddenly. "I do believe I will join this guild as well!"

"I suppose." Mari said. I could have sworn I heard her mumble something along the lines of "Elesis will have my head" under her breath. She cleared her throat and continued aloud. "This teleporter will take us nearly to Serdin castle. Kumura, you may go first."

"O-ok…" I stuttered as I stepped onto the blue pad. I felt my head spin a little as the store we were in disappeared to be replaced by blurs of grey and green, until it finally came to a stop.

A/N: After 2 weeks of on/off typing, I got it done. Why was this posted almost instantaneously? Because I didn't post any of this for 2 weeks, of course. More to come as soon as I get my fingers repaired. Seriously, I am a weak typer ;-;  
Reviews are appreciated to all who take time to write one :D


	4. Chapter 3

Kumura: (*glaring at me*) You've been forgetting something, you failure author!

Me: (*sniffling*) You don't have to be so mean about it!

Zero: Where am I?

Me: The place of only your nightmares... THE DISCLAIMER!

Zero: Please elaborate.

Me:I don't own Grand Chase, or Zero over there. They are property of... Gamerage? I think that's the company. Hmm. However, I do own my OCs that cannot dance. Kumura, Bay, and Lucius are all OCs. In case you couldn't tell.

Kumura, Bay, and Lucius: JUST START THE CHAPTER ALREADY.

Travelers From Another World

**~Chapter 3~**

~Kumura's POV~

Our small party padded along a dirt road that ended at the gates of an extravagant castle-like mansion. The architecture was stunning, and someone had obviously taken some time and effort into designing it. I seemed the only one impressed. If Bay and Lucius had been at all surprised, they didn't show it.

Soon enough, we were at the gates that ate the dirt road and spit it back out as a paved path. Two guards adorned in silver armor stood parallel to the path at the mouth of the gate, holding spears with pride.

"Good morning, Miss Mari." The guard on our left said.

"Good morning." She replied. "May we pass?"

"Of course." Both guards opened the gate hastily, then rushed us through.

"Thank you." I whispered quietly, passing into the courtyard.

We could hear the sounds of people training around the corner of the building. As Mari led us towards the area, the two combatants came into view. They were battling with wooden swords. One of them, a swordswoman, was rapidly hacking at the defenses of another swordsman. Her hair was tied perfectly into a loop behind her that stayed away from her face as she threw blow after blow at the defense of the man.

The man, holding his sword in an odd backwards position, defended every blow with precision that was rare to find. The two suddenly stopped when they looked over, noticing Mari. The man said something that couldn't be heard from such a distance and began to walk over towards us- or at least Mari.

"It's nice to see you're back, Mari!" He said, eying the three of us others warily. "Who would these three be?"

"Good morning, Sieghart." Mari replied. "These are the only new recruits we received from the northern mountains of Ellia. They need to go through the entrance tests."

"I see. I'll make sure Red leaves you alone." The man- apparently Sieghart- said, turning back towards his opponent.

"Each of you will be tested first in a solo challenge." Mari said, leading us off. "Afterwards, you will be tested in your teamwork skills. Seeing as Kumu here is the only one who currently has an application filled out, she will be taking her test first." Walking into a room, Mari flipped a switch.

Nearly blinding lights suddenly turned on from inside the roof itself. I twitched backwards in fear a bit, until realizing that this was also one of the points of technology: indoor lighting that didn't require candles, windows, or anything except for electricity. There was no magic involved in it at all, yet it still seemed complicated to me. In the corner of a room sat a teleporter, also hooked up to mechanical elements.

"Kumu, your mission is to successfully retrieve an apple from the Treant in the Trial Forest." Mari said, sitting by a box with one glowing face. "Do you possess a weapon?"

I looked around for a moment, attempting to locate my bag, but found it impossible. It was no longer on my person, thus I no longer had my dagger. I shook my head.

"What weapon do you use?" Mari asked.

"Currently I don't have a primary weapon." I replied.

"Then I'll start you off with a basic sword." Walking to a tall basket, Mari pulled out a crudely made wooden sword. She handed it to me. I noticed it was missing an important element that blades need.

"This weapon does not have a fuller." I said, frowning.

"Then don't stab anything." Mari briskly retorted.

"But-"

"Slash the enemies."

"Ok."

Mari's fingers clacked over the board like accessory attached to the glowing box. The teleporter suddenly sprung to life. Pulling out an odd little creature from inside the desk, she turned to me.

"This is a recording device." She said, pointing to the small mechanical thing. "There's a button on its back. When you arrive at your destination, press it. Got it?"

"Got it." I replied, taking the mechanical recording device and heading towards the teleporter, sword held awkwardly in my arm. After stepping onto the blue pad, the world spun for a quick moment before realigning itself with my vision. Looking around, I found myself to be in a forest clearing.

I pressed the button that Mari had shown me, and the lense-faced creature whirred to life, floating on its own.

"***KRSH*** _**Is this thing on?**_" I heard Mari's voice play from inside the recording device. "_**Ok, good. I'm getting a video feed. You can begin now**__._***KRSH***"

Multiple mushroom-like animals stood in front of me, yellow eyes gleaming menacingly. One of them hobbled over to me, appearing harmless. Suddenly, it tackled me hard in the stomach. It stung badly, spores coming off of its head and me unintentionally inhaling them. I recoiled back a few feet, getting my sword into a slashing position. It tackled for me again, and I slashed the top of its head horizontally. The spores would be first to go. However, I hadn't counted on the others swarming me. I could battle anything one-on-one with a bit of information, but a bunch of cute-looking mushrooms? I was finished.

In a desperate attempt to get the mushroom-things away, I spun around, slashing my sword at any of them that moved. When I had stopped, the only thing left was minced mushrooms. I went to a rock and sat down to catch my breath. Suddenly, I heard loud, lumbering footsteps coming towards me.

I turned to see a large tree-based figure. It must have been the treant. It picked an apple off of its head and pitched it hard at me. It smacked me hard in the shoulder, the stem imbedding itself into my flesh. I plucked it from my shoulder and dashed off into the foliage. There was no way I could take on a treant, unless I came up with a strategy. It took slow steps towards the trees I was hiding in.

I looked at its legs, noticing that they appeared armor-less, and a precisely aimed slice would take its knees out, crippling it. Its steps were slow, indicating that I could probably get a slash in between its movements. I took the chance and dashed out from the foliage, throwing the apple into the air to distract it. It turned towards it and I slid under its legs, slicing with a carefully but quickly placed slash. It fell to the ground, groaning and holding its leg. Since I couldn't tell where I would get a fatal blow off on it, I decided to slash all of its apples off to take its projectiles away. Dodging a swipe from its arms, I harvested all the apples from its head in record time. 37 apples in less than 20 seconds: a record time for my picking, although I suppose I did have better tools.

Another swipe sucked me out of my celebrating. I dropped to the floor to dodge it again. I didn't have to kill the treant, thank goodness. I only had to get an apple from it. And now I had 37, not counting the one I had thrown. I gathered them up, staying well away from the roaring tree's reach.

"***KRSH*** _**Well, I suppose it will suffice…**_" Mari's voice startled me from the recording creature. "_**I'll have the robot open a teleporter.**_"

The little mechanical creature flew towards me and landed, unfolding into a blue, unassuming teleporter. Cautiously, I stepped onto it, feeling the by now familiar sensation of teleporting. The world blurred a bit, spinning and morphing until I was back in the room that Mari had teleported me out of. Bay and Lucius were nowhere to be seen. The lense-faced creature then appeared, flying over to Mari and her glowing box. Depositing the apples onto the desk beside Mari, I felt my stomach growl. My face lit on fire with embarrassment.

"Since you've completed the solo challenge, and your team for the cooperation test is currently unavailable, you can take a break." A smile seemed to tease Mari's lips. "I'll show you to the cafeteria."

As Mari led me back through the courtyard I heard two people bickering. As we rounded the corner again, they came into sight. The scraggy, black haired man- Sieghart- was teasing a person I had all but anticipated being here of all places.

"So, horn boy, what's the occasion?" Sieghart smugly taunted.

"There is no occasion." Dio simply replied. "I was contacted and requested to return to Serdin castle for the assessment of rookies."

They continued bickering for a few moments before Mari broke them apart.

"Sieghart, Dio, would you like to join this new recruit and me for lunch?" She said, harshly emphasizing their names and glaring daggers at them.

"YES!" Sieghart happily said.

"If it stops this useless arguing, then fine." Dio huffed, following Sieghart.

Mari led us to another door on the building. The door entered into a long hallway that we walked down for a few moments before we turned towards a door. Inside the room Mari brought us to, there were rows of circular tables, each adorned with their own unique tablecloths. More people whom were adorned in the same armor as the men at the gate sat at them, contently eating their lunches and conversing with each other.

Dio broke off to sit somewhere in the room.

"I'm not hungry." He had claimed as he walked off. Mari, Sieghart and I lined up at a humble buffet line and got our own lunches. Mari and Sieghart both went their own ways to eat their lunch, while I eyed an empty table, sitting humbly in the corner of the large cafeteria.

"Rice is the best thing in the world." I muttered sarcastically to myself, spooning the fluffy cooked grain into my mouth. Hey, I had to keep fit somehow, and cutting back on food was as good idea as any.

"Here I am to judge the abilities of a new recruit and I find you are the recruit I am judging." Dio's irked voice startled me a bit as he sat down at the table. "You had told me you were running from something. Was that a lie?"

"No. It wasn't." I said. I was still a bit mad at Dio for ditching me when fighting Zero. "Circumstances have changed, especially since our previous encounter." I messed around with the food on my plate, spreading it back and forth on the plate with a small huff of annoyance.

"Hey Dio!" I heard an overly-cheery, yet soft voice speak. I looked without moving my head to see that the possessor of the voice had been a young lady whom seemed obsessed with pink. Her hair was pink, her armor was pink; It came as a surprise that her eyes were amber-colored. "I see you found the third recruit before I did."

Behind this new, mysterious, pink-obsessed girl was Bay and Lucius. I twitched a bit at Lucius' glare at me, turning my attention back to my rice. The lady in pink sat down right beside me.

"So I hear you have a pretty cute voice." She smirked as she spoke. It was my turn to glare at Lucius. He replied with a triumphant smirk. "Can I hear?"

"I'm sorry, but my throat is really dry right-" I was cut off by Lucius.

"Oh, then let me get you a drink of water, my dear Kumura." Lucius was playing vengeful.

"It seems to have only been a temporary discomfort." I had to work to keep my anger from coming to light and embarrassing me in front of a whole cafeteria full of my soon-to-be fellow guild mates. "However, if you do not mind, I would prefer not to be singing, as I do have a meal to finish. I am on a schedule after all."

"You can eat quickly, now sing a song!" The pink lady whined.

"FOR THE LAST TIME, NO!" I roared. The whole cafeteria turned to me, eyes wide. I slunk underneath the table to hide, quickly fearing their stares. I could feel the heat in my face, making me blush with its keen trickery. I stayed there, waiting for most of the crowd to leave, but I ended up falling asleep. Did I mention that warm food makes me tired? A flickering light from underneath the tablecloth woke me up. I shielded my eyes against it.

~?'s POV~

Yawning, I slunk down the stairs to go to sleep. Moonlight leaked through the small window beside the stairs, and I found myself looking out for the first time in a while to a clear night. The stars taunted me with their light from their perches high in the sky as I scanned through the midnight skies, twirling my brown hair in my fingers, dreaming. Sighing, I broke away to get a glass of water before I would go to sleep.

As I sipped my water in blissful silence, I turned my attention to the window beside the fridge. A large light piqued my interest. It looked nothing of a light bulb, shining in such dazzling colors, but it seemed trapped to a small part of space. I dropped my water into the sink and scurried over to put my shoes on quickly. If there was anything that might have been interesting at 9:00 at night, this light was it!

As I dashed to the door, I snagged my purse onto my arm and put it onto my shoulder. Slowly, I opened, closed, and exited to the backyard. The light still seemed to be there. I inched slowly towards it, observing the odd pattern inside of it. On the outside was a border of white light, which surrounded an odd circular pattern that I had seen no technology duplicate. I felt my feet skidding, and I saw the light getting closer. Either the emeralds I had for eyes were playing tricks on me, or that thing was sucking me in!

~Kumura's POV~

I peeked out from my makeshift bad underneath the table to see a weird, blotchy-green light floating a few feet away. The pattern churned around beautifully, and then a solid figure exited the light, tripping upon landing. Either my grassy eyes were playing tricks on me, or the person who had teleported into the room had the exact same traits as I: brown hair with light tints of red and looking about the same height and weight. All I had to do now to confirm it was see her eyes. If they were green, then she was most certainly a mirror image of me.

As she blinked her eyes a few times in the dark cafeteria, I realized her eyes were indeed the same color as mine. A group of people suddenly entered the room, turning the lights on. The girl, who I had deemed to call "Mirror" for now, covered her eyes, hissing. Heading up the group, Mari navigated around tables, getting closer to Mirror. The singing-obsessed girl, Dio, and Bay followed in suit.

"Well, it took her long enough to wake up!" The pink lady said.

"Miss Amy, I don't think that is Miss Kumura." Bay stated politely. So apparently, the pink, singing-obsessed lady's name was Amy. That would prove good useful. "The light that made the whirring noise that awoke me was what was called a rift. It opened up in this exact room."

"How do you know that isn't Kumura though?" Amy said, pouting.

"Because I still sense Miss Kumura's presence beneath the table you chased her under previously today."

"Then this must be an intruder." Mari seemed to amusingly drone.

"Wait please! I have no idea where I am, and I'll leave if I'm intruding!" The girl, still rubbing her eyes spoke. "I'm sorry!"

She blinked a few more times, and seemed to be trying to make something she saw disappear.

"My eyes are sort of on the fritz, please wait a moment, whoever you are!" She said, vigorously rubbing her eyes. She opened her eyes again, and suddenly opened them wide. "There's no way…"

"Hm? What was that?" Mari asked the dazed girl.

"What color is your hair?" Mirror suddenly said.

"Cerulean."

"Do you have heterochromia?"

"Yes. I'm surprised you know the-"

"CRAP!" Mirror blurted suddenly, smacked herself in the face with one hand. Two more people entered the room.

"What's with all the noise, you crazy tikes?" Sieghart said drowsily, rubbing his head. "I swear I could have heard you from Xenia with your levels of noise. I was sleeping you know."

"You weren't the only one." The red head following him said. "I was having such a great dream about slaying Kaze'aze. I was just-"

"FIDDLESTICKS!" Mirror blurted again. I couldn't take her rudeness. Dashing out from under the table, I clamped a hand onto her mouth, putting a finger to mine to indicate silence.

"Would you mind being quiet?" I asked in a hushed voice.

"I'll hush now." She mumbled through my hand. I slowly pulled it away from her face.

"What is this madness?" Dio stated.

Mirror suddenly started to giggle uncontrollably.

"What?" Dio asked, staring at her.

She giggled even more furiously, before quickly cutting off.

"All things aside, I should probably be a bit more serious." She said, erecting herself. "My name is Briana. In case you haven't noticed, I seem to look exactly like this young lady currently standing less than 2 feet away from me. Please evacuate my personal bubble of space, before I continue."

I scooted away, and Mirror- apparently Briana- continued to speak.

"I already know the names of most of you. Please do not question why. Before I continue, I would like to note that I do know more than I will tell you. If you want to hear more, than I would suggest you find a specific person, of which I will grant access to said knowledge.

"I'd tell you his name, but I doubt you would understand who I was talking about." She straightened the arms of her sweatshirt. "Except for maybe of course Miss Elesis, Sir Sieghart, or Sir Dio, but otherwise, I highly doubt you would realize who I am talking about."

~Briana's POV~

Utilizing the vast amount of time I had spent on Grand Chase wikis, I easily deduced that Zero's partner, Grandark, would be the only one whom would be able to explain what happened. Worst-case scenario, this is all just a dream; Best-case scenario is that some meddling around here on this world caused a rift to pop up. In that case I would probably be here for a while.

"How do you know our names?" Elesis asked, eyes perked up in interest.

"I already informed you that I would not explain the concept, as it would be difficult for both me to describe and your guildmates to understand." I coolly said. No one could claim that in the case of being stranded by some means in a video game's dimension I wasn't prepared, that's for sure.

"Are you calling me an idiot?" She growled, now glaring at me.

"No. I am merely stating that this concept requires advanced hours of study, and I myself do not understand it completely." It was a good thing I read a lot of dialogue-rich books, or else my tongue would be in need of a small guillotine, perfectly sized for cutting it off.

Elesis pulled a sword out, as if by nowhere, and got me to the ground. She pointed the sword to me neck, as if to keep me leashed like a dog.

"Give us some straight answers!" She barked at me.

"Is there such a thing as a curvy answer?" I said, trying to kill my fears before they got the better of me.

"You know what I mean." She narrowed her eyes.

"Elesis is there really a need to be like that?" Amy said, sounding genuinely concerned.

Elesis stepped off of me, sword going back onto her back. Funny, I must have simply not noticed it before.

"If it bothers you that much, I suppose I'll tell you who I'll talk to." I couldn't contain it at this point. My voice shook, truly showing how scared I was of Elesis. This was going to be a long trip, fantasy or no. "His name is Zero." I simply stated.

**~End of Chapter~**

Briana: (*trollface*)

Me: Shut up and let me type the next chapter you idiot.

Kumura: THANK YOU!

Me: Does that mean you take back that horrible thing you said in the disclaimer?

Kumura:...No.

Me:(*sulks*)

Grandark: Please Review. Your reviews give me more power. And give this author (*points with eye*) motivation.

Me: Gee, that's so nice of you Grandark. (*sniffles happily*)

Grandark & Kumura: You're still a horrible author.

Me: Yeah, yeah I get it. Forget my respect of you two. I will now make an effort to torture you both with rainbows and butterflies.


	5. Chapter 4

Travelers From Another World

Me: Zero I brought you a present! (*hold Grandark out with a bow on his handle.*) Sorry about the blood on him, I tried throwing him. He impaled me.

Grandark: Human, do you know what real pain is?

Me: I don't see anyone here named "Human", Grandark sir. You might want to try the next castle. (*Takes deep breath.*) (Shouting VERY LOUDLY) ZERO GET OUT HERE IF YOU WANT YOUR SWORD BACK. I'M REPLACING HIM IN THE CLOSING THING SO YOU TWO CAN DO INTROS TOGETHER!

Grandark: Take this demeaning thing off of me this instant!

Me: Nah, I'm waiting for Zero sir to get out here, hehe.

Grandark: ZERO! GET OVER HERE NOW!

Me: I don't see him. (*Sniffles.*) Wanna help me search for him?

Grandark: I can't move.

Me: I can use my author powers to give you a temporary mobile form.

Grandark: Temporary?

Me: I can make it permanent for this story only, and if you prove your loyalty to me, I might even let you pick your features, keheh.

Grandark: DO IT.

Me: Okey Dokes. Do the disclaimer.

Grandark: OCsCan'tDance doesn't own anything but her OCs. GIVE ME A BODY. NOW, YOU HUMAN.

Me: Next chapter, I need to start 4.

Grandark: Fine...

* * *

**~Chapter 4~**

~Briana's POV~

"His name is Zero." I stated, being blunt. No playing games anymore, just me being short, sweet, and to the point, as much as I loathed it.

"How do you know him?" I heard a few- Mirror included- ask, seemingly intrigued that I knew the wanderer/seeker. I honestly didn't know what point in time in the Grand Chase story line I had been stuck in. If it was real, I certainly didn't want to screw up anything. Then again, I had a tendency of being a tad… careless, so to speak, when in what I dubbed "Geek Mode".

"I hate to tell you this, but as I stated before…" I dropped my voice to a serious tone. "…He is who I will talk to. Technically it's that wonderfully charming slab of metal he's always carrying on his back that I need to talk to, but I really doubt you know who the heck I'm talking about." Under my breath I whispered a small "Am I rambling?"

The door of the room opened again, Ryan entering this time.

"What's with all this commotion?" He said, yawning. "With all the noise you've been making, you might as well have woken the whole castle up." Looking alert, his eyes trailed back and forth between Mirror and I. "Twins?" He asked.

"This could prove problematic." The silver haired woman said. I still needed to learn her name. "Visually speaking, these two are practically indistinguishable, save for attire. For Sir Dio and me it is no challenge discerning who is who, but for anyone who can't… Oh, I'm rambling, aren't I?" She seemed to lightly blush. "Please re-introduce yourselves?"

"I am Kumura." Mirror- Kumura, said. "Please call me Kumu. I am the recruit."

"I'm Briana." I said bluntly.

"Alright… Briana…" It felt awkward to hear a Grand Chase character say my name, let alone my least favorite character. "If Kumu here is the recruit, than who are you?"

"Uh…" I locked up at the question. I honestly didn't know what I was to the Grand Chase, other than maybe a source of some information, which most of it they probably knew. Toggling around with responses in my mind, I finally found the response that I thought was perfect. "Your name is Ryan. You are an elf. Your Favorite activity is enjoying Mother Nature, while your pet peeve is anything that destroys nature. Year-wise, you are 15. The job classes you possess are Druid, Sentinel, Viken, and Vanquisher. Must I go on?"

"Wow. You are a brat." Elesis stated from outside the conversation.

"Why thank you!" I beamed. While loathing complements, if there was anything I loved that was it was a good insult to my face, as long as it wasn't about my height. For my age, it was perfectly fine for me to be this height, but around people who were either shorter or much taller than I that were much older than I? Those sting like scorpions.

"Tch-!" Elesis stood, mouth agape.

"Is there anything else you would like to ask me?" I quietly and politely yawned onto my hand. "'Cause I really need some sleep. Staying up to seven o'clock in the morning on only three hours of sleep can wear someone down, y'know?"

"How can you survive on such little sleep?" Sieghart asked, frantic.

"You don't?" At this point I was just looking to screw with all of the Grand Chase members. I was living to annoy at this point in time. Being tired did not help me, either. I quietly skipped over to a corner when no one else spoke to me. I scrambled through my purse, searching for- and successfully finding- my music player. Oh, how I love convenient bags that carry everything and still fit with an outfit.

Gently coaxing the headphones onto my tired head, I let the lull of my music put me to a near-unconscious state. I kept awake to review over the day, or at least the past 20 or so minutes. Being stuck here, on the off chance that I wasn't hallucinating and my brother had not in fact spiked my can of soda earlier, I had only hoped that my family and close circle of friends weren't too worried. Who was I kidding? Of course they were going to be worried.

Somehow, thinking of my family and friends- possibly just my home in general- got me onto the sketchy topic that reigned supreme: Grandark and Zero. First, would Zero be willing to let me interrogate Grandark? And second, would Grandark cooperate? This then got me thinking even more. Who warped me here?

"Too many questions…" I silently huffed to myself. "…And not enough answers." With my last ounce of conscious will, I turned off my music player to conserve its battery. There was no telling when I would possibly be able to charge it next, so best save power now. I let my eyelids rest over my eyes and felt another night void of all dreams waiting for me. But there was one thing different this time about my dreamless, unconscious, abyss of a mind: the poking. Someone was poking me in the shoulder, and it was not pleasant.

Consciousness took me back with open arms as I slapped away the hand of the poker. I recognized the features of one of my friends from school. He was taller than I, at least a centimeter or two. Glasses highlighted his face, on a head that was coated with a small, thin, closely shaven head of blackish-brown hair. Don't ask me the color, I'm no fashionista!

"What?" I growled ferociously. It had felt like I had gotten no sleep whatsoever.

"Sorry!" Jack winced, shrinking back a bit. "I just thought since you were here, you might know more about what was happening so…"

"I see." I looked around quietly, taking in the scenery of the cafeteria, still the same as the one I had fallen asleep in. "Still here…" I muttered a bit. "How long have you been here, and what were you doing when you were warped here?" I sternly asked him.

"Um… maybe about three minutes?" He seemed to be questioning himself. "I was playing-MMPH!" I muffled him before he could say anything. I had noticed the silent, dancing shadow in the corner.

"If you're in the shadows, Lass, please exit them. Your cover is blown." I said, in direction to the shadow.

Almost reluctantly, a shadowy figure exited the shadows, startling Jack. It was certainly Lass, down to the T. Of course, that was figuratively speaking, since there was no "T" in "Lass", but of course, that's just me being Ms. Literal.

"How is it you were able to spot me beneath the shadows?" He asked, accent very obvious.

"Telling you would spoil the fun of secrecy, so I'll leave it at 'I'm and expert'." I said with a smirk.

"Oh. My. Gosh. IS THAT-" Jack started, but I stopped him with a firm smack with my wonderful purse. Convenient, non-clashing, and good to hit people with: All great things to know about my wonderful choices of purses. A sleek, black colored 3''x6''x2'', perfectly strapped, WMD, My wonderful purse! Jack's stomach growling stole me from my admiration of the destructive thing strapped to my shoulder. "I'm so hungry…" I heard him mutter.

Unzipping the wonderful WMD, I pulled out a granola bar. The convenience of purses prevails yet again! As I handed it to Jack, I noticed something was missing; something near and dear to me that only the largest fool would try to take: My music player!

"Where-is-it?" I anxiously huffed, wide-eyed. "Oh no no no no no!" I frantically dug around inside my purse. Curse it and its compact size that carries so much! Curse it! My headphones that I had on my ears, as well as the back-ups I kept in my purse, tragically, were also gone. To take my music player from me was a feat in and of itself, but also managing to open up my purse, dig through it, take my headphones from it, and even get the ones adorning my head? That kind of prowess was only found in impeccable thieves and/or pickpockets!

Lass handed me a few familiar objects; in fact, they were the ones I had been frantically searching for! I quickly grabbed them and investigated them thoroughly, yet quickly, to search for any damage. My headphones seemed fine, save for the damage they had had from my long possession of them. As for my music player, it seemed a tad drained. Instead of the delightful look-at-me-I'm-fully-charged look that I had gotten prior to shutting it down, I got an oh-I'm-just-a-tad-weak-won't-you-please-charge-me look. That meant it only had an hour. How wonderful!

"Why would you take my music player?" I asked Lass skeptically.

"Stalking someone during their morning nap isn't the most interesting of things to do." He smugly said. "I thought I would do something interesting."

"Whatever. What's done is done." I said, before catching the word Lass had said. "Stalking?" I asked, wide-eyed. "Please tell me you're just using that to make your situation farfetched and don't actually mean you are stalking me."

"Of course. Elesis asked me to make sure you didn't get into trouble."

"I see." I mumbled. By the end of my time in the wonderful world of Grand Chase, "I see" was going to become my catch phrase. I would see to it immediately. "However, seeing as the situation has so obviously gotten worse, I regret to say I will be relaying the information that I have withheld to you and your fellow Grand Chase elite guildies."

"'Guildies'?" Lass asked, perplexed. "Never mind. Either way, I had thought you said you were only going to talk to him."

"Him who?" Jack asked.

"Circumstances have changed." I said with a shrug, ignoring Jack. "The situation is obviously becoming worse, and dimension hopping can be a prick. Being stuck here could mean horrible consequences for not only my acquaintance and I, but possibly Aernas as well." I was nearly done being a silly person. Nearly. "Waiting for someone to arrive could prove most inconvenient in a situation that may or may not be manipulated by a person. Considering the point that this possible puppeteer may possibly prove to be a promising peril, I would prefer not take my chances. Some people aren't as pacifistic as Elesis, you know."

I earned a small chuckle from Lass. I felt so proud of myself. I had actually made Lass chuckle! What a feat!

"Lead away, Lass." I said, again with consonance. Such a fun way to speak, in consonance. You just use a bunch of synonyms of words from a sentence that all start with the same letter or share a similar sound. It was so fun to use. That was another thing I would have to use back home. Then again, it could get annoying to a lot of people fast, especially a few of my other friends at school. I would drop consonance, for now.

Lass lead us through a hallway that seemed overly decorated. Paintings retelling epic battles were everywhere. One of them even seemed to look just like… Hmm. It looked like maybe Kaze'aze or Dark Anmon vs. the Grand Chase. I couldn't tell because of the artist's rendition of the enemy. I didn't get a good look at it, as Lass continued to take us forward.

***BANG. BOOM. CRASH!*** Violent sounds echoed through the hallway. Lass dashed off, with me in hot pursuit. Jack followed along casually. A door violently tore open when lo and behold, another familiar face popped up. He also had glasses, albeit lopsided a bit on his nose, adorning his face, like Jack. He had longer hair that was maybe two centimeters long, brown, and certainly looked singed.

"What happened?" I asked Joey.

"Help! Arme… Firebolts… Teleportation and burns!" He said frantically, out of breath.

An enraged purple mage walked forward, a staff apparent in her hands. She looked ready to blow up at any moment, and most certainly could beat any bomb to death with just one glare, at least how she looked now. If there was anyone in the Grand Chase I should be afraid of, it was Arme, right now!

"GET BACK HERE YOU PERVERT!" She growled towards Joey, whom was using me as a meat shield. "WHAT WERE YOU DOING IN MY ROOM?"

Lass skeptically gave Joey a look. We were most certainly dead. If any couple I supported attacked us that I was afraid of, it was Lass and Arme for sure. Arme appeared to be itching to firebolt Joey so hard he would go back home, but Lass was holding her back. My hopefully not singed person would thank him later. Being a meat shield sucked, but then again, so did the dimensional tear that thought itself to be a comedian, and look where that got us all.

"You'd better start explaining, Joey." I raggedly said.

"I was just on my computer listening to some music." Joey had apparently got his breath back. "All the sudden I blacked out, then I woke up on the edge of her…" He pointed to the raving purple mage. "…bed. I don't even know how I got here! Please don't hurt me Arme!"

"I see." I again said my new catch phrase. "Miss Arme, please be rational about this. Rifts are sporadic events that do not have any real coordination without some sort of guidance. The human mind does not have the capacity to control these phenomena. Joey did not choose to warp to your room. It might be that your magic attracted the rift like a magnet. Have you considered this?"

"Eh…" Arme stopped, almost speechless.

"Now, Lass, I need to explain some more things to you." I said, turning to the thief himself. "Shall we head to a room satisfactory for debriefing?"

"Hold on a second, I'm coming with too!" Arme suddenly and smugly said, smirking.

I inwardly sighed, following Lass with a quiet obedience. It seemed very coincidental that everyone so far warped here I had known, almost too much so. I could only hope that everyone warped to Serdin Castle, or at least wherever the heck I was. I could only speculate that this was Serdin castle. In all my hours on wikis or the game, I had found nothing that really specifically said where the Grand Chase was based. It might have been in the back story on the website, but hey, the last time I read that was when I started playing the game. With a quiet cough, Joey alerted to me the fact that I was trailing behind. I took up my walking pace and scurried forward.

~Ley's POV~

I sighed as I closed my eyes in a desperate attempt to go to sleep. I had ended up stopping south of where I had met the young human girl in the mountains. We were apparently near the border between Ellia and a previously uninhabited–by humans- continent, called "Alcubra". In the recent hours, someone had decided it would be funny to open a few rifts. Rifts were the most obnoxious things in all of Aernas. They leaked too much energy, broke through dimensional barriers, and were incredible hard to contain.

There were too many of them appearing in the late hours for it to have been a coincidence. A few rifts had appeared to the west. Even though they were so incredible far away, they still managed to cause an annoying buzz in the back of my head. A louder buzz was currently resounding through my head, indicating that this rift was closer in proximity to me.

"OW!" I heard a loud shout from outside my door. I could see a faint glow disappearing from crack under the door. Reluctantly, I stood up to investigate. If anything went wrong, I could easily summon Jeeves, Mary, or even Garouille if needed. As I opened the door, the rift rider turned towards me. The dim light kept me from seeing what he looked like.

"CRAP! WHAT'S LEY DOING HERE?" He exclaimed with a loathing tone.

"What is that supposed to mean?" I asked. "And how do you know of me?"

"Er…" He began to explain that he knew of me because "My world", as he called it, was just a video game, whatever that meant. He apparently also knew of how I had met up with a group of humans and elves on the island continent of Silver Land. "…that's about all I know. I have a friend that knows more than I do, and she could probably tell you where Dio is, but you'd have to get me back home before you could contact her."

"What is your name?" I asked.

"G-george. Why?"

"Well than George, you'd better be good at carrying luggage."

"Wh-huh?" He said.

"Make haste. I don't have all day."

"No! I don't carry luggage!" He protested in response.

"If you want me to help you, then you do."

"Fine!" He stormed into my room and re-exited upon picking up my bag.

~?'s POV~

So I had stayed far into the frolicking hours of the night, right? I was just listening to music and reading a book. I **HAD **to investigate the glowing hole of doom. At least I had grabbed my decaying wooden sword. I gripped it to make sure I still had it. The area was none other than Thunder Hammer. I really hope Briana hadn't spiked my can of soda earlier. I had managed to get lucky, wandering aimlessly around, finding a stray Tech Guard and ambushing it. I had taken its equipment to disguise myself. Then I ended up in this predicament.

"What is your identification number, Tech Guard?" Arawn's deep voice boomed towards my masked face.

"TK-124." I played it by my nerdy ear.

"Alright then, 'TK-124', take your mask off."

"I've got a really bad cold sir, I wouldn't want you to catch it."

"That is very considerate of you, 'TK-124', but you would have to be much taller to even cough on me."

"I guess if you put it like- SMOKE BOMB!" I pulled off one of the spherical things on my belt and pitched it downwards. It was too bad it was a glue bomb. "Frick. Wrong- UGH- BOMB!" I worked hard to pull my gluey shoes off of the floor, but found that the glue was quite elastic. The floor brought me down, my stolen mask flying off of my face and to Arawn's feet. I was caught like a rat in a trap.

"You do not appear to be a Tech Guard." He simply said, stating the obvious. "Then it would stand to reason that you are an intruder." In seconds flat, many, many guards were surrounding me.

"TECHNIGUARD, DIGIVOLVE TO… no I'm just screwing with you. SOMEBODY PLEASE UNGLUE ME FROM THE FLOOR! Anybody? I WANT MY LAWYER… and a side of baby back ribs." I shot off. "This is cruel and unusual punishment under the Geneva Convention!"

"BE QUIET." Arawn roared.

"I CHALLENGE YOU TO A XIAOLIN SHOWDOWN! My… oh that's right." I paused. "I know Mari?"

"Which Mari?" Arawn interrogated.

"You know, the blue haired chick that has the robots and multicolored eyes? Could you please unglue me from the floor? It smells funny!"

"My bad!" I heard one of the many guards say. I wrinkled my nose a bit.

"Anytime now. If you do not hurry up, I will curse you and all your family to have horribly blotchy facial hair! Muahahahaha!"

"How dare you threaten my facial hair and my family's facial hair! Few royal dwarves are blessed with such luscious beards!"

"Please don't hit me with your hammer, yo! It would not be cool!" I eyed the Tech Guards for a moment. "Are you guys unionized? I've been wondering that ever since I heard of you."

"What's a union?" They asked, perplexed.

"Enough of this!" Arawn roared in rage. "Take him to the dungeon."

"Hey is this how you treat all of your guests?" I asked.

"You are no guest."

"Just because neither of us intended for me to be here doesn't mean you should be so mean." I pouted.

"Then can you prove your innocence?"

"I didn't shoot you." I pointed out. "The tech guard I stole from is still alive."

"Theft and assault, but not murder. You must be the purest human in the world." Arawn sarcastically said.

"Well that's nothing." I said. "The Grand Chase are buddy-buddy with you, and they slaughtered a good hundred of you guys." Suddenly, one of the guards hit me over the head.

"Thank you." I could barely manage to hear Arawn say as I felt unconsciousness sweep over me.

When I woke up, I was surrounded by pleas of inmates. The dwarves whom had put me into the prison must have also been the ones who had taken my wooden sword, as well as most of the things I had taken from the tech guard. I still had my glue bombs, though.

"Great." I mumbled to myself. "Your day couldn't get any better, Roth. Now all you need is to have Duel try to kill you. Then you can sing of how this day was the best ever."

"Why would I kill you?" A chilling voice said from behind me. I turned slowly, afraid to look. Of course it was Duel himself.

"F-F…" I began to exclaim, flinching towards the wall a bit. "What are you doing here? And don't you have some more important things to do other than popping into a prison cell, such as attacking Zero, stealing Grandark or something?"

"Why look, it's a guard!" He said.

I turned around to look at the guard, like an idiot. Instead of seeing a guard, I was greeted by a wall. I felt a hand pull me through an… acid trip? No, this was a portal. When the spinning and swirling stopped, I was in the decaying, purple, fleshy, Kaze'aze's castle. I felt my head tipping to the side.

"If this is a hallucination, this is not funny." I said, getting back my balance.

"Welcome to my castle." Duel said with a slightly smug tone.

"Oh really? I thought this was Kaze'aze's castle. I mean, it is kind of in the name." I countered.

"Kaze'aze was weak, and minded as such. She never deserved this castle." Duel simply said. "Besides, after her untimely demise, the castle became less of an interest to certain figures. No one would bother coming to a place like this."

"That makes sense." I mumbled. "But why did you kidnap me, dude? Seriously, not cool!"

"I don't want you in the hands of fools. You're much too valuable."

"Valuable in what sense? Your cryptic word choice is making it tough to understand you."

"All in due time."

"Marvelous… OOH!" I suddenly exclaimed, looking past Duel. "IS THAT GRANDARK?" He turned around, and I laid a beating. "BOOM CHICK UH AH! BOOM CHICK UH AH! BOOM CHICK UH AH! BOOM CHICK UH AH!" He turned back around and grabbed my polo's collar.

"That 'Boom chick uh ah' attack of yours was quite interesting." He said in a drone.

"It's one of many I know, such as FALCON KICK!" I kicked Duel's crotch. Nothing happened. "Well that didn't work…" I mumbled. "SHORYUKEN!" I shouted, attempting to do an uppercut on Duel's face. My arms were much too short compared to Duel's. "Well then, PEACE SIGN OF DEATH!" I waggled my arm pathetically forward, until I realized that it wouldn't work either. "Screw it! TAIOKEN!" Somehow, one of my referenced attacks actually worked. Duel dropped me, putting his hands to his eyes.

I dashed off in a random direction, hoping that the blinding effects of Solar Flare wouldn't expire too soon. Something tripped me. Looking back, I found the culprit to be one glistening dagger. I saw Duel approaching. Hoping he had never seen a certain movie, I held the blade to my neck.

"Freeze or I cut this guy!" I said loudly.

Suddenly, Zero's move 'Abyss' was flying in, smacking Duel into a wall.

"That **HAD** to hurt." I said, cringing. "Hey, would you happen to know a way out of here, preferably towards Kanavan?" I asked Zero, turning to him. I would try to be careful with my Grand Chase knowledge.

"Do I know you?" He asked.

"Of course you do! You're the awesomest, awesomeness of awesome there is, Zero the… whoops, just Zero. And that there is Grandark! Please take me with you."

"How do you know my name?"

"Uhu. Uhu-hu-hu. Uhu. The same way I know you wear a black onesie under your clothes" I chuckled, picking myself up. "Also, Grandark, you sir need some eyedrops."

"I believe I need an adult."

"_Zero, you are an adult_." I heard a disembodied voice huff.

"Ignoring random voice, do you know a way out?" I asked Zero. "You did hear that random voice, right?"

"Pardon me but, what random voice?" He asked.

"You know, the one saying you're an adult, which, by the way is quite a legit point."

~Briana's POV~

Lass finally decided to take us to a room that was deemed suitable for interrogation. Arme and Lass sat opposite of Joey, Jack and I. The room seemed reminiscent of those stereotypical questioning rooms you find in those mystery solving shows.

"You may speak." Lass said, shifting himself to stand up straight.

"I would rather try saying this in short, so give me a moment to compose myself." Clearing my throat, I began. "The three of us, that is, Jack, Joey and I, are from another world. I am unsure as to how our world completely could have connected with yours, but it could mean someone is trying to wreak havoc upon Aernas."

"You claim you are from another world, yet you know the name of ours?" Arme asked.

"I can't answer that. Anyways, I have a few theories pertaining to the relations of Aernas and our world, the Earth." I took a breath before shooting out the theories at full speed. "First off, magic doesn't exist in our world, at least to my knowledge. That rules out the idea that the mischief maker came from our world, as I highly doubt our government is withholding dimension ripping tech, but you never know. Second off, technology is a lot more advanced in our world, compared to Aernas'. That might be partly because of Kounat's demise, but-"

"Let me stop you there." Lass said, interrupting me. "I will get Mari and Sieghart. They should be able to interpret this information correctly."

"You mean I'm going to have to repeat all that?" I pouted, smacking my head onto the table. "NOOOOO!" I wailed. Arme sat silently in her chair, appearing to slouch a bit. She must not have gotten much sleep.

"Keep an eye on them." I heard him mumble to Arme as he exited the room. After two minutes of uninterrupted silence, I decided to pull out my comb out of boredom. I unzipped the WMD on my side and pulled out the fine toothed tool, readying to feel my scalp scream in agony. Why did I comb my hair when I was bored again?

"What are you doing?" Joey asked, looking at me wide eyed.

"I'm combing my hair." I replied, pulling through multiple knots.

"Willingly?"

"I'm bored. What did you expect?"

"I expected you to listen to your music." Jack said.

"Why didn't I think of that?" I put my comb away, pulling my music player out and slipping in my earbuds. Putting it onto the table, I turned it on. Immediately, I shut it off.

"I'm such an idiot." I mumbled. "I need to conserve power on this thing. Whose bright idea was it for me to listen to my music?"

"His." Joey said, pointing to Jack.

"I see." I bit my lip. "I think I'm going to end up going stir crazy without my music. Any ideas?"

The knob of the door into the room turned, and Sieghart and Mari walked in.

"Arme, you need your rest. Lass updated us on the situation." Mari said.

"Ok. Thanks." Arme said, getting up and leaving.

"Do I still have to repeat everything I said?" I complained quietly, sliding down a bit in my chair.

"No. Lass repeated everything you said to us." Mari said.

"Great. My throat won't be dead." I took a deep breath. "I'm really not sure where I should start. Should I tell you my theories of getting to Aernas, theories of why, or explanations of why?"

"How about you just tell us what you know about Kounat?" Sieghart said.

"Big explosions, time machines, a transition of power from them to the Xenian deities, Common stuff really. I'm not an extreme expert on it, but I know a heck of a lot more than these numbskulls beside me."

"Hey!" Both of them cried.

"You know I'm just kidding. Come on." I chuckled.

"Focus." Mari said.

"Ok, ok! Give me a sec to compose my thoughts in mostly chronological order. It's not easy to do from memory you know."

"We don't have all day."

"Ok! Yeesh. Kounat was a kingdom in Archimedia. The kingdom specialized in machinery. They also fought in a war called the 'First Demon Wars'. There are differing opinions as to how the kingdom was destroyed; some resources point towards a large explosion wiping them out, while others think that demons are responsible for its demise. I personally don't know much about the topic, but I am almost 85% sure that it was the big giant explosion." I paused for any responses.

"Can you tell us something we don't know?" Sieghart said, annoyed.

"Alright. I suppose you must know quite a lot, since you were there yourself. I'm going to have to find something you absolutely didn't know."

"How did you know I was-"

"The exact same way I know that Mari is the last survivor of Kounat, and the same way I know that the orbs -or shall I call them the soul stone fragments- were stolen from you by a demon named Duel Pone Zec Avenger. Can I continue now?"

"Please do." Mari said.

"Alright. Throughout the whole schebangle, Kounat's people were sacrificing themselves left and right to seal of portals to other dimensions. I'm just going to put a small note here on the fact that dimensions are finicky and that's probably how we three got stuck here. Back on track now, in the present day, when the Grand Chase visited the relics of the great kingdom, you learned that the seals are weakening. Let's see, anything I'm forgetting?" I asked myself, trailing off and mumbling a few other points to myself before realizing a few other points I left out. "Oh, right! Something about Klara Libri and clones, but I honestly don't know much on that.

"Dio, Ley, and Baldinar-slash-Bardinar-slash-Ashtaroth were also there. Forgive me if I totally screwed his name up, the translations aren't always accurate. What else was I going to say? I'm really sorry, I don't learn this stuff to tell others about it, I learn it to know for myself. Besides, I'm not used to anyone caring. Really sorry!" I slouched into my seat a bit more.

"So you know a little bit about Kounat. What do you want from us?" Sieghart asked.

"As much as I like the world of Aernas, I don't belong here. I need to get home, and I need someone else's help. I honestly doubt I can get all three of us home by myself, and I don't think everyone that got stuck here was warped here to Serdin Castle. In fact, I guarantee it. Actually, I don't think I talked about that topic." I sat back up straight. "I think that someone purposely caused mischief to teleport us Earthlings to Aernas."

"Who do you think would do that?" Joey asked.

"I have my ideas. It could be anyone from Kaze'aze-"

"Wasn't Kaze'aze killed?" Jack interrupted me.

"Thank you for stopping me before I finished. It was quite nice of you, and I do believe I'll give-slash-draw you a cookie." My eye twitched in annoyance.

"That's really nice of-"

"I WAS BEING SARCASTIC YOU DERP!" I shook my head. "Kaze'aze wasn't killed, per say, but more put in a place of hey-I-can't-really-do-anything-ness. She's recovering right now, somewhere. Anyway, as I was saying, the person that's playing dimension ripper could be anyone from Kaze'aze to Duel himself. Although I highly doubt the mischief maker is Kaze'aze herself, as she was too weak anyway to even come close to tearing a whole big enough to leak to another dimensional plane. I'm just saying."

~Roth's POV~

"Ok, back to me." I said firmly to Zero. "You need to focus on getting me out of here. I know semi-cannon facts about you, such as you are not in fact Duel. I also know that Madara is not Madara. Majin Buu is a Djjinn. Now Grandark, look at your man, now look back at me, now look at your man, and back to me. Sadly, your man is not me, but he could smell like me with the power of _New Spice_. I'm on a horse."

"You do not appear to be on a horse." Zero plainly stated.

"I am not on a horse. Now if you'll kindly just lickety-split me out of here, I'm sure we could find a reason for you to like me, like hooking you up with the Grand Chase."

"What is this Grand Chase you speak of?"

"Powerful warriors who all despise Duel; Powerful allies in your quest for his destruction." As I was speaking, out of the corner of my eye I realized that Duel was recovering from his date with the wall. "Duelly boy, please go back to bed. The adults are talking here!" I turned fully towards him, seeing how enraged he looked. It would not be convenient for him to try to kill me. "Zero, why don't you use Orchid on Duel while I run the other way? Chop-chop! GAARA OF THE FUNK!"

I booked it the other way, not noticing a Dark Anmon Guard in front of me. I smacked directly into its hammer, setting off one of my glue bombs and effectively sticking me to it. The Guard, not knowing what to do, attempted to pry me off of its weapon, ending up only sticking me to its hand as well. Deciding it couldn't get any worse than this, I inquired about its unionization. It replied in a series of clicks.

"I come in peace, Vegeta." I said, effectively naming the Guard Vegeta. "Have you seen a purple angry dude with a glow stick for a hand and horns? Yes? Yes? No? Yes? Do you have any Saiyan extract, because that's the only thing strong enough to unglue me? I do say, if you extricate me we shall become the best of friends and go into business together as haberdashers!"

A purple portal like thing appeared nearby. A figure exited it, revealing himself to be Dio. He jumped into the battle that had apparently started between Zero and Duel while I was talking to Vegeta.

"IT'S A GUNDAM!" I shouted, expecting to explode. "I DIDN'T BLOW UP! Then it's **NOT** a Gundam. What does the scouter say about its power level then? **IS **it over 9000?" I turned my head back to Vegeta. "Hey Vegeta, can you get us closer?"

The ant clicked and hummed.

"Yes, to the battle!" He walked forward towards the fight. "HEY GUYS! MAYBE THIS ISN'T THE BAST PLACE TO BE FIGHTING! IT IS IN FACT A ROTTING CASTLE!"

Suddenly, Vegeta spun around and threw his hammer- and me- at the fight. Funny, he must have ripped the glue apart. On a side note: AHHHHHHHHHHHH!

~Briana's POV~

"Why should we help you get back to your dimension?" Sieghart said. "You don't seem to offer anything to us."

"You are completely right." I said, eyes narrowing. "But dimensions are a type of wound you don't want to leave to fester. A rip in one could become a gash. A gash eventually to a point I wouldn't want to see. Why do you think people would sacrifice themselves to seal these rips up? We aren't even from this dimensional plane."

"What do you mean by a dimensional plane?" Mari asked.

"It's one of my theories. Do you have a piece of paper?" I pulled out a pen from my purse. Sure I had my sketch notebook, but I didn't want to waste paper on a drawing of this.

Mari pulled a piece of paper out from seemingly nowhere and put it on the table.

"First of all, you know what a plane is, right?" I asked. Mari nodded. "Good. You know how they are infinite, right?" She nodded again. "Good. Think of a dimension as a plane: Infinite. Now let's say that this plane is our dimension, and this other plane is yours. They never intersect at all; they're almost parallel. But what if something forced them to, in a sense, bend towards the other or rip? That would cause damage in both planes.

If elements from, we'll just call it 'Plane A' for now, are inside 'Plane B' and the rip-slash-bend is repaired, elements from A are still in Plane B. These elements will serve as a link to their dimension. Of course, I'm still speaking theoretically of course, but these links could cause the rip to open up again." I took a breath for a moment, having spoken extremely long on a few breaths. "Do you understand now, Sieghart?"

"I guess." He droned in a bored manner.

"What time is it?" I asked, yawning.

"Eight o'clock." Mari responded.

"Yeesh. And I only explained my dimensional theories and knowledge of Kounat."

"Only?"

"Eh… I know about practically everything from the fact that Sieghart is immortal to the Nightmare circus. I even know about the Crucible, the fight with Hellstrom, the Sanctum of Destruction, and your battle with Naahmah. I could even name them in the order that I-" I barely caught myself. "You and the Grand Chase went to."

"You were saying 'I' went to." Mari pointed out.

"No I wasn't."

"Your defensiveness only proves it."

"Alright, fine. How would I know about your adventures on Bermesiah, Silver Land, Ellia, Xenia, Alcubra, and Archimedia? I'd explain it to you, that is, if you get me back to my dimensional plane. Besides, if you can find a way to get my friends and me home, you might even find a way to save Elesis' father Elscud."

"You are avoiding my inquiry."

I smacked my head forward onto the table and groaned. I was not going to take this right now. My eyes were ready to close like a curtain and I could feel it in my back. I was ready to pass out, but I knew I shouldn't. I did anyway.

The next thing I knew, I was falling on the floor.

"AAAAAH!" I screeched, barely catching myself with my hands. "WHAT THE HELL?" I stood up carefully and looked around. All of us were in the hallways again, traversing throughout the castle. I felt like I was missing something.

"What's with all the noise?" A blue-haired man we all knew and loved walked out in blue, dragon-decorated pajamas. "Some of us are attempting to get some rest before a long day, you know."

"Oh quiet, Justice Boy." Sieghart groaned.

"Hey!" I protested. "Don't call Ronan names! That isn't nice!"

"Wh-what?" Ronan asked in a perplexed tone.

"It's a nickname." Sieghart pouted.

"It's a mean nickname!" I retorted.

"I'm older than him."

"Your actions refute your immunity in age."

"Guys…" Joey murmured, trying to kill the flames of argument before they started.

"At least I don't try to sounds so smug."

"FRRRGALVA!" I growled, wringing the air in front of me with my hands.

"What?" Everyone asked.

"FRRRDAFLURVE!" I was seething. "I'M NOT SMU~G!"

"You're making up words." Sieghart noted.

"THANKS, CAPTAIN OBVIOUS!"

"You hypocrite."

"TRFLAVA!" I again wrung the air in front of me.

"Are you trying to say you want to fight me?"

"FRRRRDAL!" I didn't bother trying to say any words. Speaking got me into this mess; It would make it worse. I finally gave up and hung my head, took a deep breath, and recomposed myself. "If it will get you to stop using such mean names such as 'Justice Boy', then by all means, FISTICU~FFS!" I took up a mock fighter's pose.

"Meh. I'd rather not."

"Are you saying you are going to stop calling Ronan 'Justice Boy', as well as quit calling anyone else in the Grand Chase such demeaning things? VICTORY IS MI~NE!"

"What?"

Giving up by default means that the opponent takes the win." I smirked. Not seeing Sieghart use nicknames for anyone, now _that_ was something I wanted to see. "You'd better learn the names of your fellow Grand Chase mem-"

"It is ON, Shorty." He interrupted me.

I was screwed. It was my own fault, but still. I was screwed.

* * *

Duel: Where is this place?

Me: OH. MY. GOSH. (*Fangirl screech*) IT WORKED!

Duel: Who are you?

Me: I am the author.

Duel: Author?

Me: Yup. You and I must talk about the content of this Chapter.

Duel: Forget it. I am leaving. (*Opens Portal.*)

Me: OH NO YOU DON'T. (*Takes away Duel's portal powers with author powers.*) TALK. CHAPTER. NOW.

Duel: No.

Me: Stubborn little... FINE! (*Throws arms up in air.*) REVIEW AND YOU CAN SAVE EDNA!

Duel: Wh-what?

Me: LA LA LA NOT LISTENING TO YOU, MEANIE!


	6. Chapter 5

Me:(*Screaming at the top of her lungs.*) HEY ZERO! GET OUT HERE!

Grandark: Well, I don't see him. (*Begins to walk off.*)

Me:Wait, wait WAIT! GRANDARK YOU HAVE TO DO THE DIS... Screw it, he's gone. I'll find him later.

Zero:(*Walks in.*) I heard Grandark's voice. Where have you hidden him?

Me:He just ran off. If you actually stick around this time, you might find him. Besides, he'll have to come back in about a week if he wants to keep that form of his.

Zero:What do you mean he just ran off? Swords are incapable of movement!

Me:Not Grandark, Not Anymore!

Grandark:I have returned.

Zero:Grandark? Is that you?

Me:REUNION NEXT CHAPTER. DISCLAIMER NOW.

Grandark: Nah.

Me:(*Eye twitching slightly*) Oh really?

Grandark:(*Stuck as a sword again*) NOOOO!

Me:Disclaimer. Now, my disclaimer slave.

Grandark: OCsCan'tDance doesn't own Grand Chase and it's characters! She only owns her OCs! Now return me to that form! Now!

Me:Chapter 5, BEGIN! (*Smirks evilly*)

Grandark:NOOOOO-(*Cut off by Chapter 5*)

* * *

Travelers From Another World

**~Chapter 5~**

~Briana's POV~

I quickly reviewed over the rules of the match within my head, as well as what weapon Sieghart was using and what I had to counter him with. Let's see, Sieghart has to control his anger. That was all I could remember. Mari had said the rules pretty fast. Sieghart was using his gladius, while I was stuck with a left over wooden scythe. Apparently they didn't have anything else.

I was trembling as I waited for the signal for us to begin. We were fighting in the Gorge of Oath map. It was relatively the same as it was in the game from all I could tell. Personally, I hated the map, due to my friend George's tendency to spam Alchemist's specials to trick me into tripping into bombs that would make me fall. The thought of falling scared me a lot. You just feel so free with the wind at your face and then… then you're just a red stain on the floor. Ah the kinds of things a young teen thinks about.

The buzzer must have sounded while I was stuck in my trance thinking about falling, because Sieghart managed to smack my face. Luck was on my side however, as I was able to make to flat hit me rather than the blade. Who knows how much getting my face sliced would've hurt! The flat still stung, bringing me easily to my knees, and tears to my eyes.

"Ow!" I wailed.

"It's a fight. Actually act like it." Sieghart scoffed. I took the chance that Sieghart had made for me to do an upward slash with the scythe, bringing him off the ground for a moment. I then pulled it out and attempted to pin him down with the blade. He looked genuinely stuck for a moment.

"Rule number one of fighting: Don't let your guard down." I hissed at him, driving the scythe's blade deeper into his stomach. Not ready to take any more chances with the likely ready to rage gladiator, I pulled out the weapon and dashed off. With a kick from my leg, I made it to the nearest platform. I turned warily back to see Sieghart's condition. He was DEFINITELY standing, he was DEFINITELY in rage mode, and I was DEFINITELY dead as a doornail. Screeching, I made a run for the next platform. To say I was terrified was an understatement.

I kept trying to jump around and avoid Sieghart until he calmed down until luck took its toll. I tripped on trying to jump on one platform. Defiantly, I grabbed the edge and pulled myself up. I could hear Sieghart jumping quickly and skillfully. I ran off again. Soon, I would run out of platforms. I had to think of something, or I would have to take my pick: Stain on the floor or some sort of chopped up dish involving lots and lots of spices. I would have slapped myself just then, if not for the fact I was trying to run from a raging maniac who could snap my spine like a-

"Run now, rant later." I chanted over and over to myself as I broke my train of thought. I ran like there was no tomorrow. Nearly falling over, I used the wooden scythe to keep my balance. I could hear the wood stressing over my weight. That was definitely not good. I got the third leg off of the ground and continued running. My lungs screamed bloody murder, but it was better than dying.

Big mistake number one: I turned around to see where Sieghart was, slowing down in the process. Big mistake number two: I saw he was a good distance away and decided to take a breath. I could feel my heart in my throat with every stressed beat. My legs were aching and I could feel my arms beginning to tire of carrying the wooden scythe. Before I knew it, Sieghart had caught up to me and knocked me down. The scythe did nothing for me. His punch stung like…like…well that wasn't good. It hurt so much I couldn't compare it to anything!

"Ow." I wheezed on my side. Sieghart was definitely still in a rage. There was no way that it would've lasted this long in the game, but I guess I had a lot to learn. The game isn't the same as the real Aernas, it only shares certain aspects. Sieghart's gladius sliced down my back, creating a painful wound. If he was trying to make me scream in agony, then give him a medal, because he surely did. I swear I hit such a high pitch that dolphins would be wondering what I just said. Oh hey analogies, I missed you!

"_PARALYTIC CURSE!"_ A familiar spell knight shouted as he appeared. Ronan threw forward a binding spell of sorts. Jin appeared as well and got Sieghart into a full nelson, pulling him away from me. Ryan also came out of seemingly nowhere, dragging me a little farther from the- EDGE WHICH I HADN'T NOTICED WAS THAT CLOSE! I jerked a little bit, startled at how close I was to being pushed off by Sieghart, whom sounded like he was putting up a fight against Jin and his movement hindering skills.

Ryan tossed a totem down beside me. I could feel its healing effects closing the wound on my back. It was painful, but at least the pain would subside once I didn't have a hole in my back. Of course that was theoretical of co-AGH! Somehow I must have wrenched my arm too. It really hurt a lot, I mean a **LOT **more than it should have. I knew that forcing quick regeneration could cause some slight stinging, but I felt like something was tearing me apart.

"Ow!" I finally decided to verbally express my pain.

"Huh?" Ryan asked, eyebrow arching.

"I said 'Ow'. Seriously, I knew healing hurts, but this is just… OW!" I squealed.

"These totems naturally heal you." He stated with a worried look on his face. "You shouldn't be feeling any pain from them."

"Then that isn't good because—**IT FEELS LIKE I'M BEING BURNT TO A CRISP FROM THE INSIDE OUT!**"

"That sounds like you're being introduced to magic for the first time then." Ryan bit his lip.

"You're b-**BITING YOUR LIP.** That's never a **GOOD SIGN!**" I was twitching now. Great. As if having my organs feeling like they were being carved by a butcher wasn't bad enough, NOW I WAS TWITCHING LIKE A RABBIT! Good, still had analogies. Tears started nipping at my eyes next.

"If this is your first time being introduced to magic, then-"

"RYAN WE NEED YOUR HELP HERE!" Ronan yelled, interrupting Ryan.

"On it!" Ryan said, quickly forgetting about the fact that I was still stuck by a totem that was boiling my blood like the evil witch from a fairy tale. He dashed off to help incapacitate Sieghart, whom, from what I could tell, was still in a rampaging rage. Consonance, my good friend, as much as I had missed it, wouldn't help me now though. I scrunched together in a ball, biting my lip until it bled, only for it to heal again because of the totem. I blacked out.

~Roth's POV~

"Hey, Duel, you need some **SERIOUS **deodorant." I said with a cough. Vegeta's throw had landed me smack dab onto Duel's shoulder. "Might I suggest _New Spice_?" Duel grumbled. I think I was annoying him a little bit.

The three combatants stood completely still. I felt like whistling a tune from this one cowboy movie. I did.

"YOINK!" I shouted, taking the stalemate as a chance to steal Transcendence off of Duel's back. "YO! OPEN THE PORTAL!" I shouted slicing the glue slap-happily. Dio had opened a portal and jumped through, Zero following him. I followed as well, but not before shouting one thing. "I'LL GET YOU NEXT TIME, MY PRETTY, AND YOUR LITTLE SWORD ECLIPSE TOO!"

~Briana's POV~

Where was I? No, a more appropriate question: Who was I? I seemed to be in a clinic like place. But what was a clinic? All I knew was some sort of searing pain that boiled me. Boiled? What is this vocabulary I am using?

A purple- at least I think that was the color- haired woman walked over to me.

"It seems you haven't been exposed to magic until now." She said in my direction. "You are suffering from Magic Introduction Syndrome or MIS for short."

"What do you mean?" I felt words form from my mouth.

"It appears that you've got the form that wipes your memories." She bit her lip. "I need you to follow me. The only way to get your memories back is to either wait, which we don't know how long it could be, trigger a memory, or perform shock therapy."

"Shock therapy?" I mumbled. "That doesn't sound like a good thing."

"Just follow me." She bluntly stated. "Do you remember how to stand up?"

"If I've lost my memories, it doesn't seem that I've lost my vocabulary, so it would stand to reason that I am still capable of traveling with the use of my feet." I warily attempted to stand up.

"Alright, then that's good. That means we shouldn't need anything too drastic to make your memories return to you." She beckoned me to follow her again, going to the door. I saw a few other beds with a few other people in them. None of them I recognized.

"Excuse me, ma'am, since I lack the proper knowledge, may I inquire as to what your name is?" I asked as I shuffled around a bit. Something felt missing.

"My name is Arme Glenstid."

"It is a pleasure to meet you Arme Glenstid." I said, following the mage. Mage? When did I learn… oh. "Are you a mage?"

"Yep." She chuckled. "It sounds like you're already getting back some of your memory. That's very good. In that case, I'm going to take you to some people that know you so that they can unlock the rest of your memory. After that, the rest should unlock itself."

Arme led me through a hallway with multiple paintings and tapestries. One of them depicted a large dragon-like figure with menacing green eyes. It was mainly blue and a grey-white, but it had a few red highlights.

"Kaze'aze…" I tested the name out on my tongue. It **SOUNDED **familiar enough.

We continued walking through the hallway until we came to a lounge. Multiple people were sitting in chairs, drinking different beverages out of a vast assortment of awe-inspiring mugs.

"I have some business to attend to." Arme said, turning to me. "You know those two over there. They should know at least enough to get you back on your feet."

"But I am already standing…" I said, confused.

"It's… sarcasm…" Arme sighed.

"I see."

"Anyways, go over there and talk to them. I'm going to be attending to some business." With that, Arme left me to talk to the two whom I apparently knew. I trotted over quietly then sat down beside one of them.

"Miss Arme said you two should be able to help me regain my memories." I said politely to the two. "It is apparently a side effect of MIS."

"Well, this is your purse." The scrawnier one said, handing me a black bag. "It's as good of a start as any."

I meekly took the black bag and began to fish through it. If it was mine, I surely shouldn't mind snooping around inside of it. I found a small sketch book labeled "DO NOT OPEN UNLESS YOU ARE BRIANA. I'LL HUNT YOU DOWN IF YOU OPEN ME". I opened it. It appeared to have sketches of things inside. The attention to detail was pretty nice, but complementing it would mean complementing my pre-memory loss self, thus it would stand to reason that would be awkward. I heard a sizzling sound and turned my head.

A purple portal appeared to my left.

~Roth's POV~

I landed with a ten-pointer on the other side of the portal. I looked closely at Transcendence, the sword I had just stolen from Duel. I hope he wasn't annoyed.

"YOU STOLE TRANSCENDENCE?" A familiar voice roared in my ear. I turned to see my little sister, down to the last brown hair.

"Hi Briana!" I said to my little sis. Her eye twitched.

"Is that or is that not Transcendence, Duel's legendary sword?" She asked, calming down a bit.

"Why I do believe it is!" I said with a triumphant smirk.

"Does this mean we don't have to try to get you to remember everything?" Joey said from the background.

"Oh, hey Joey." I said, waving with my free hand.

"Hey Roth." He replied.

"Give me that sword, Roth." Briana seethed. "Now, or I will not hesitate to BITE YOU."

"You seem energetic." Suddenly, I noticed that Briana seemed to be standing oddly erect. "When did you start standing up straight? Is your back okay?

"Give me the sword and quit asking useless questions." She said, eyes narrowing.

~Briana's POV~

It was so wonderful to have my memory back. The thing that sucked about it was the fact that the event that triggered my memory to return was my brother showing up with a stolen legendary sword. Not any legendary sword, in fact, but one of **DUEL'S **legendary swords, Transcendence itself.

"Sieghart and Briana were having a fight." Jack spilled. "Although she was running a lot more than actually fighting."

"SHUT UP!" I shouted, turning to glare at him. "CAN'T YOU SEE I'M BUSY? GETTING DUEL'S SWORD BACK IS A LOT MORE IMPORTANT THAN TALKING ABOUT HOW MUCH I SUCK AT EVERYTHING."

"So he did that to your back?" Roth said, getting my attention again. I turned to him. He was scowling.

"What?"

"Your back is all bloody, Bri." Joey said. I immediately brought my hands to my back, feeling the crusting substance even through my multiple layers of clothing. At first, I could tell there was no evidence of slashing on my clothing, and it even seemed as I was in new clothing, but investigation with my hand proved it to be the same clothing I was wearing prior to fighting Sieghart. I blame Ryan's totem.

"That is beside the point." I brought my hands back to my side, wiping off anything that might have gotten on them from my back onto my legs. "Give me Transcendence, Roth."

"Nah, not right now!" He cheered, running off.

"GET BACK HERE!" I shouted, running after him. He went into the hallway.

"_Transcendence, WAIT!"_ A voice rang through my head. I slowed down a bit to investigate it. Zero passed me, Grandark sitting on his back contentedly. In a quick move, knowing that I would need his help to get Transcendence, I jumped onto Zero's back, snatching Grandark, who was surprisingly light. Maybe it was just the fact that I was about ready to tear my brother's head off. I don't know.

"_What the-?" _I heard the same voice exclaim. It MUST have been Grandark.

"I'll return you to Zero in a few minutes." I explained to the rambling sword. "I need your help if I'm going to get Transcendence away from my brother's irresponsible clutches. Are you willing to help me out?"

"_Eh…"_

"You're asking yourself 'What's in it for me?' Good question! A good question always has a good answer! I'm willing to tell you one of the weaknesses of Duel Pone Zec Avenger, the demon that you and Zero were forged to kill. Fair?"

"_Fair, I suppose."_

"Good, then get ready for this." I put on a quick burst of speed to catch up to my brother, who was now face to face with a wall. _"ABYSS!"_ Don't ask me how, I just used Abyss. Screw you, rules of all logic, I just used a move that requires the user to train intensively from only a reference of watching someone else use it. Epic.

"Whoa!" Roth exclaimed, holding Transcendence out to shield him. It generated a force field that absorbed all the bits and pieces of Abyss. I gritted my teeth and stepped forward. "Can't we talk about this, I mean really?"

"**Give. Me. Transcendence. NOW." **I growled, stressing each word carefully. He suddenly dropped the legendary sword and began to slap me. I clutched Grandark in my left arm, fending off slaps with the other, and occasionally getting a slap in myself.

~Kumura's POV~

Arme navigated us through a few turns before we came to a room not unlike the one that I had been warped to my test in. Amy was there as well, with Lucius and Bay behind her.

"I assume that the three of you already know that you must perform a teamwork test as well as the solo challenges you all completed?" Arme asked. She continued without an answer. "Well, this is that test. However, the recording device is out of order thanks to one of you. I'm not naming names, but it really is inconvenient." Bay seemed to shuffle a bit. It must have been her. "Well anyway, Amy and I will be coming along to assess your progress. We will not be helping you at all. Are you ready to get your mission?"

"Yes." Bay, Lucius and I said in unison.

"Good." Arme sat at one of the glowing boxes and her fingers dashed across the rectangular accessory beneath it. "At the top of the Trial Tower lives a creature named Wendy. It should prove a formidable foe to you three. I want you to work together to eliminate it. Should you succeed, then you are granted membership to the Grand Chase."

"And if we fail the test?" Bay asked hesitantly.

"I highly doubt that you three will fail this test. At least one of you could easily solo this-"

***BOOM.* **A large noise cut Arme off.

"What was that?" She asked Amy frantically.

"I don't know!" Amy cried out. Another explosion wracked the walls in a fury.

"I'm sorry to say this, but we're going to have to postpone your entrance assessment." Arme's words made me sink lower than the bottom of Partusay's Sea. "We need to go investigate that noise! Come on Amy!" She dashed out of the room before anything else was said. Amy followed in suit, leaving us three recruits alone in the room.

* * *

Me:Readers! Are you lost yet?

Briana:OH YEA! (*Doing a victory dance*)

Me:(*Facepalms*) Stop being so smug, Briana. Really, I thought you were better than that.

Briana:Can't I have a little self-indulgence?

Me:No. Now advertise for me, since I couldn't get Duel in the chapter end thing-y this time around.

Briana:Fine~ Review this horrible, horrible story and you can help provide real world hacks for little girls all across Aernas!

Me:That's not how you do it! And my writing is NOT that bad... Is it? Oh no... (*Starts reading everything she has written and begins to judge her writing terribly.*) YOU'RE RIGHT! IT'S... IT'S ALL TERRIBLE!

Kumura:If she says its terrible I say its wonderful.

Me:Eh... It's horrible. Leave it at that.

Kumura:Next time on "Travelers From Another World": Will I ever get officially accepted into the Grand Chase? That and much more, all on "Travelers From Another World"! See you next time! (*Whispering to reader[s]*) And don't forget to review, please.

Me:(*Rambling in spite of Kumura*) So, I was really late this week in my update. Like, a day late. And it was for a short chapter. I feel guilty...(*Chapter end cuts out before I can finish criticizing myself*)


End file.
